Tim Potter, The Wichita Eagle
January 2, 2010
TOWANDA — The mystery began here. In 1999, 11-year-old Adam Herrman disappeared from his adoptive parents' mobile home on the south side of town.
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But investigators didn't discover the boy had been missing until about a year ago — after his older, adoptive sister told authorities she was concerned about him...
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A year later, the mystery remains unsolved. Authorities say they continue to work on the case.
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In a recent interview, Butler County Attorney Jan Satterfield said she expects to make a decision on charges within the next year. Nearly a year ago, she said Adam's adoptive parents were suspects in his disappearance. In some ways, Satterfield said, the case gets stronger with time. "There is no statute of limitations on murder,'' she said...
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Satterfield said that within the next year, she expects to file charges or submit the case to a grand jury so it could consider bringing indictments.
She declined to say what charges might be filed...
Warner Eisenbise, the lawyer who represents Adam's adoptive mother, Valerie Herrman...
Laura Shaneyfelt, lawyer for Adam's adoptive father, Doug Herrman...
The Herrmans continue to assert that they are innocent, their lawyers say.
In an interview with The Eagle last January, Valerie Herrman, then 52, said that in early May 1999, when Adam was 11, he ran away from their Towanda mobile home and didn't return after she spanked him with a belt. She said she didn't report him missing because she feared it would cause her and her husband to lose custody of Adam and their other children.
Relatives said that Valerie Herrman told them that Adam, who was being home-schooled, was no longer at home because he had been returned to state custody...
Adam's biological father, Irvin Groeninger...thinks authorities are doing everything they can. He said he hopes that charges will be filed. "I'm hoping that there will be justice served on this." And he said he would welcome renewed media attention on the case.
....Court records show that the Herrmans continued to list Adam as a dependent in court documents. Valerie Herrman told The Eagle that they continued to accept $700 monthly adoption subsidy payments for Adam until his 18th birthday in 2005 — six years after he disappeared. Adam would be 22 now...
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3 comments:
So glad that SOMEBODY out there is still actively seeking updates on this case. I check the internet for any updates, this site is the only one I have found. I wish the media would get more involved in the case, maybe Nancy Grace can put this case on her show. Her show has turned into nothing but missing children .... lets get the media and the public aware of this case and find out what happened!!!!! 10 year disappearance may be old news to some, but this is a young boys life we are talking about and the family should have closure and the adoptive parents should be arrested. They are already guilty of collecting $700 a month to care for a child that they no longer had with them. They should rot and suffer!!!! What a tragic case that should never have happened if Child Protective Services were actually doing their job!!!!! How the hell does an adoptive child go missing? He should have been checked up on when he started getting home schooled and not going to yearly doctor appointments. Sooo many people dropped the ball and whats even more sad is that something like this will happen again! I pray its not your child.
So sad because the only reason this was uncovered was a sibling that knew where to look and tried to check on Adam. How many missing children are there? How many children have been stolen by SRS only to be placed in abusive situations/exploited/murdered?? We will never know. ONE was too many. Where there was one we can expect there are more.
Thank you for the update. Keep hoping to see these people charged, for the murder and for stealing money from the state. I hope "to the full extent of the law" applies in this case.
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